*** FIRST PLACE WINNER UIC2023 *** 12 chapter contest based on specific weekly prompts. An assassin realizes something isn't right about the new target they've been given. They switch sides to save the person they were meant to kill.

Eleanor Wellesley has lived with her father's neglect and indifference all her life. When Sir Edward Wellesley is killed in a card game, Eleanor discovers he has left her destitute, and at the mercy of an evil man.

Tobias Crowe, raised by an Indian woman after his parents died, went on to learn the trade of gunfighter. The difference being, he hired himself out to people who had been cheated, robbed or somehow mistreated.

When Hannah Templeton ran away from an arranged marriage, she did not expect everything to go so wrong, so quickly. Now she's snowed into a barn on her first night of freedom - along with a drunken, obnoxious stranger. In the cold light of dawn, perhaps arranged marriage will be the least of her troubles...

Mia and Alex had good intentions. They were only trying to come up with a plan for their sixth form fundraising - one that'd be a sure-fire way of scooping the charity prize at the end of term. It wasn't their fault the whole thing turned into a giant game of dares, and they ended up agreeing to spend a week making fools of themselves in front of their classmates. Of course it wasn't their fault. But in the name of charity, who could resist a double dare?

Verity Baker has spent her life cleaning up after her father's mistakes. But one day, he goes too far and sells her, for one night only, to a local lord to pay his debts. What kind of man would buy a woman? What kind of woman would agree to be bought? COMPLETED

What makes a good fairytale? Catrin Llewelyn believes in fairytales, Beatrice Morton does not. And yet in many ways their life resembles one. Stepsisters living together on a manor, Catrin is shunned by her stepmother, while Beatrice is doted on and adored. Only the rules of the classical fairy tales are rather broken, for Beatrice cannot stand her mother's attentions and Catrin is devoted to her stepsister and only friend. When the Duke of Denster hosts a ball in honor of his son's birthday, the new Mrs. Llewelyn decides to try and match make Beatrice with the Denster heir. There is one slight problem. Beatrice has long decided to find her own love, without the help of mothers and balls. So with the help of her godmother she comes up with a scheme that will take Catrin to the Masquerade ball in her place. Will Beatrice be able to give her mother the slip? Will Catrin be able pull off the disguise? And what happens after the ball is over? Does everything go back to normal? Or could there be more to the story than either of the stepsisters ever imagined? Of Fairytales and Happy Endings is a story set in Wales during the Regency Era. Fairytale meets history and fact meets fiction as the two stepsisters set out on a journey to discover just what is it about the fairy tales that always seems to give them happy endings.

Can a natural killer learn to be human again? Regan's unique talent for murder makes her a perfect assassin. After a lethal encounter leaves her broken body washed up on a beach, she finds herself adopted by a group of teenage bodyguards. She doesn't intend to stay for long, but soon Regan finds herself faced with a choice: become a hero or stay a villain? *** The boy played with the flat brim of the cap in his hands and looked around the room. He sat back in his chair, trying to look casual, but the heel of his hi-top sneaker drummed rapidly on the concrete floor. Regan sat opposite him with her legs crossed and her hands folded on her tartan skirt. She watched him without a word and brushed a strand of blue-dyed hair behind her ear. Somehow this seemed to unsettle him more. 'Calm down,' she said. 'It's just murder.' *** Author's Note: Darkness Girl: Trickster God is represented by Louise Fury from The Bent Agency. P.S. The epic cover was made by Paul Kopetko (you can stalk him at paulkopetko.com). Enjoy!

"Remind me again why I thought spending six weeks with a bunch of hyperactive, sweaty and supposedly 'musically gifted' kids was a good idea?" Bailey Cunningham has gone and taken the plunge - she's not only signed up for the job of a camp counselor at Triple Lakes Camp for Musically Gifted Children, but she's roped her best friend, Savannah, into it too. However, the pair really get more than they bargained for when they discover they'll be sharing their summer with not only the kids, but the guy who looks as if he's stepped out of an Abercrombie and Fitch catalog, the quirky brother, and the sugar-coated flautist who's way too sweet for her own good. In the midst of the madness, only one thing's for sure: Bailey knows absolutely nothing about music.

"I think something might have happened to me Saturday night. Something bad." Private Investigator Dani Ripper's client list is nuttier than the Looney Tunes conga line, but she diligently solves one crazy case after another, waiting for a game-changer. Enter Riley Freeman, 17-year-old honor student. Saturday afternoon Riley quietly placed a little strawberry sticker on her private area and pretended it was a tattoo. She didn't tell anyone about it. That night she went to a slumber party that featured drinking and boys. Riley fell asleep, woke up the next day with no reason to think anything happened... ...Until Monday, at school, when a classmate called her Strawberry. Coincidence or crime? Dani agrees to investigate. And the roller coaster ride begins.